Digging into the past for Don

Architects have studied 81-year-old footage of Don Bradman at his childhood home to complete an award-winning restoration of the property.

Bradman is said to have honed his batting skills in the Australian country town of Bowral by spending hours hitting a golf ball against the base of his home's metal water tank using a cricket stump as a bat.

Architects from Sydney firm Clive Lucas Stapleton & Partners won the New South Wales National Trust Heritage Award on Wednesday after they used 1932 footage of Bradman's training regime to help recreate the house he lived in until the age of 15.

Bradman died in 2001 aged 92. He is acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time with a test average of 99.94 runs from 52 matches.